Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Today I have my thoughts on some Fenty Beauty products that I purchased at Sephora. Fenty Beauty is a new makeup line curated by singer/songwriter Rihanna. It's had tons of buzz, particularly regarding the extended color choices for foundation - 40 shades! I've included my youtube Get Ready With Me using the products for the first time and you can watch that to see what my immediate thoughts were. My video also includes a couple of items that were released in the VIB presale for Holiday 2017 that I picked up during the event. I have a few more thoughts and swatches below from wearing the products for just the few days I've had them and I've decided to break up the items into different categories because this is getting hella long.

I wasn't one of the people who were at the computer at launch time. I actually wasn't interested in the line at all but the day after it came out, I was in Sephora for the Holiday Preview and figured I might take a look. The counter was mobbed as people were much more interested in Fenty than in the limited holiday items on the Sephora shelves. I knew there were supposed to be contour sticks and that there might be some cool shades, so I started there.

The Match Stix, (.30 0z / $25), whether matte or shimmering, are pretty interesting. The shape is a six sided hexagon which is magnetized so that you can store them all together. I think it is a great price for the amount and quality of what you get.

The Matte Match Stix that I chose was Truffle, a neutral deep tone. I like deep toned contours because they're usually more cool toned than lighter shades. I buff them out and it works for me! Even when I'm at my fairest. For me, a good contour is all about the undertone, not necessarily the depth of color. The other shade I looked at was Mocha, a deeper cool tone. I like to go to Sephora with just concealer and foundation so that I can try things on and Truffle seemed just a little bit better for me. It is on the left in the picture.

The two Matte Stix Shimmer Skinsticks that caught my eye were Starstruck, (a pearl champagne with teensy weensy tone on tone micro-shimmers, pictured in the middle), and Confetti, (a pink toned violet iridescence with violet glitter particles, pictured on the top). I couldn't help but be captivated by these as they have what I feel is the perfect consistancy. A lot of creamy stick type cheek products can be rather greasy feeling to me and these go from a cream stick to dry down with perfection, in my book.

I've applied them from the applicator, tapped on with my fingers, and with a brush and my experience is that they blend like a dream no matter my application method. They dry quickly, but not so quick that you can't finish blending one side of your face at a time. In other words, when I apply my contour, I do half of my face and blend it before it dries down and then continue by applying the other side, etc. I think there is a risk with the Matte Match Stix that if you applied it all over the face before you blend, it could begin to get too dry before you finish.

I haven't had any issues with fallout from Confetti yet so I can't say if that will happen or not. I wore it once over my foundation, once as a blend with Starstruck and once with powder highlighter over it. I compared Starstruck to Wet N Wild and Maybelline highlighting sticks that I have and, again, I prefer the drier consistancy for a much truer color when worn. I don't really like the greasy feeling sticks, even though I've used them. I definitely prefer a quicker drying cream or liquid highlighter like the Fenty or Cover FX illuminating drops.

I've swatched the three sticks heavily in the picture, 3x each in hopes that you can see the tones better.

Here is a picture in Sephora where I swatched all the Match Stix Shimmer Skinsticks together, 1x each. Starstruck is third from the bottom and Confetti is the 7th shade from the bottom. The bluer toned violet is called Unicorn and boy oh boy does the Sephora website have that shade looking wrong! Sometime when I'm in Sephora, I'm going to try that delicious papaya shade second from bottom, and the peach directly under Unicorn. I was going to try to name the shades but I'd probably get it all wrong. :/

The quality of the Match Stix exceeded my expectations and I was surprised at what I felt was a low price point for a celebrity endorsed line. I'm really happy with those choices. You can also purchase them in collated three piece trio sets which have a matte concealer stick, a matte contour and a highlighter for $54 instead of the $75 that they cost individually. The come in sets based on skintone range; i.e. light, medium, tan and deep.

Before we part for today, I want to share with you my subsequent thoughts on the Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer Lipgloss. The gloss is described as a universal shade and I'd agree with that. It is a sheer toned caramel that tastes like caramel. It is shiny but honestly, I was disappointed in it. It didn't give the wet glass glossy shine that I'd seen on Instagram and Snapchat from people who attended the launch party. Granted, the lighting at the launch event was maximized to make the products pop and glow, but still, I was disappointed in the amount of shine. It's $18 which is decent for a mid end Sephora brand, but I expected a really high shine and I didn't get one. The gloss is a pass for me but I totally get how people might love it. I have swatches of the gloss in the video.

If you want to see my initial thoughts on first application, feel free to watch the video. You'll see what the colors look like on me as well. Thanks for viewing. Please subscribe and thumbs up my channel if you happen to wander over to youtube.

About Me

I am a student of Makeupology, my pursuit of "science" as it pertains to cosmetic technology, concentrating on the nuances of color, texture and design...basically a makeup geek, wife, mom, friend and generally silly person.About Me